It's almost kind of like a second bite at the balligan apple.

It makes me incredibly happy that Mauricio Pochitino is being this positive about MLS,

about MLS's quality, and about American players relative to the national team.

He doesn't care where you play.

He cares that you play well.

I find this to be the single most fascinating aspect of Portraitune's first 11 months in charge.

The Hello, Sunshine. I'm Alexei Lalas and Wilf to the State of the Union podcast.

We look at the beautiful game on and off the field through the lens of red, white, and blue colored glasses.

This show will be talking, well, a second look at the U.S. men's national team roster in the cold,

harsh light of a new day, if you will. Potchitino's MLS love letter, leagues cup semi-action,

a weekend preview, Columbus, the great city of Columbus here in the great state of Ohio,

modern tackles, yogurt, UCL pots, and so much more.

But first joining you as always my friend, my colleague, my guiding lights, David Mossie,

a soccer savant and a Fox Soccer researcher and writer extraordinaire.

Mossie, how are you doing on this Thursday, August 28th in the year 2025?

I'm doing well. I do have to know. Is this the final show in which you will be on the road next week? Are you back in L.A.? This is it. I come to you from Columbus. I'll talk a little bit more about why I'm here later on in the show, but always fun to come back to Columbus. And this is the last on the road show that I will be, you know, for a while here.

I'm going to still go on the road later on this fall, but I'm back in Los Angeles next week and it'll be fun to see you and everybody back there in the old studios. Have you watched anything, my friend, that you want to mention? I know when we did the live show earlier this week, you were, I don't want to say mift, but you know, there's, there is something missing in the show.

It's become a staple if and we did the live show earlier this week, you were, I don't want to say miffed, but, you know,

there's, there is something missing in the show. It's become a staple if and when we, we don't

have what we watched. So, you know, knock us out. Although a few commenters made it clear,

they enjoyed not having to sit through the, what are we watching in our last show. But it is back today.

Yes, I did go see the new Spike Lee film Highest to Lois, starring Denzel Washington. After a

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